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The apparent U-turn by the Pentagon over DU use by aircraft in Operation Inherent Resolve has been cautiously welcomed by campaigners, but is it a sign of a wider policy shift? Is the threshold of acceptability for the use of DU in operations rising in response to international pressure over the controversial munitions and what part has the A-10 played in this?

The Pentagon has announced that depleted uranium (DU) munitions have not, and will not, be used by US aircraft in the conflict against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The policy U-turn contrasts with statements made over previous months, where Pentagon officials claimed that DU would be used if needed; the decision reflects a growing stigmatisation of the controversial weapons.

The news that US A-10 gunships are now also active in Syria in operations against Islamic State has coincided with the emergence of reports that Syrian civilians fear the long-term health impact of the Coalition’s airstrikes.

In the run up to the DU resolution vote at the United Nations General Assembly concerned members of the public have been asking their MPs to sign EDM 629 which calls on the Government to vote for the resolution.A number of supporters have received MoD spin in return.

The Campaign Against Depleted Uranium (CADU) latest report- Managing acceptability: UK policy on depleted uranium weapons, critically assesses the methods that the UK has used to defend its development and use of DU weapons since the 1960s.

A report for policy-makers and campaigners which judges the acceptability of DU weapons by utilising the structure of common interpretations of the precautionary principle. In doing so it asks whether a precautionary approach should be applied to DU and whether its use could ever be compatible with precautionary values.

It is with great sadness that we have learned of the death of Dr Rosalie Bertell, Grey Nun of the Sacred Heart, founder of the Institute for Concern for Public Health and lifelong campaigner against the humanitarian and environmental impact of military and industrial pollution. She will be sorely missed by all those whose campaigns she assisted and those whose lives she touched. Rosalie was 83 and in her 54th year as a Grey Nun.